I heart Hobart, Part 2

In the late afternoon on Saturday, Hugh and I grabbed some tasty sausages for a snack, and I dripped sausage grease all down the front of my only pair of trousers. The evening was to be full of schmoozing whiskey industry peeps, so I decided to go buy a new pair of jeans. Except that shops were starting to close, and I panicked a bit, and ended up buying a silk hippie skirt that showed off my unshaven calves. It also looked totally ridiculous with my brogues. Hugh and the others went ahead to the whiskey event while I shopped, and when I turned up to the event, the girls on reception were obviously not impressed with my fashion sense. I probably would have been better off with my greasy jeans! Oh well. We had a good night anyway, and Hugh totally impressed the crowd with his talk of cold filtration and micelles (did you know that adding water to whiskey has a completely different effect on the flavour than adding ice does?)

The next morning, we headed out of town to the New Norfolk region. We grabbed breakfast at a place called Salmon Ponds, the saddest excuse for a tourist attraction I think I've ever seen. Breakfast was stellar, though! They specialise in "pancakes" (the European kind). Then we headed further out of town to Redlands Estate to visit the onsite distillery.

The Estate was large and beautiful, with loads of historic brick buildings, including a main house, a butchery, a general store, tenements, and barns/warehouses. Oh, and what looked like a Victorian tennis court, of course. It's located next to a river, and there's a resident platypus, named Mr. Scratchy that comes and runs around sometimes. On the drive back to town, we caught three mountain goats climbing the hill by the side of the road.
 

Hugh's coworker's girlfriend and I spent an hour in the town of New Norfolk while the boys explored the distillery. The town is small and doesn't have much going on at all, but they had an awesome stationery store called Flywheel. There was an old printing press at the back of the shop, and they sold old unused letter blocks. There were also lots of larger home decor pieces like you'd find in Anthropologie. I bought some cute shield stickers by mt.

From there, we went to the Museum of Old and New Art, or MONA, which has improved the cultural reputation of both Hobart and Tasmania. It was created by an eccentric Tasmania who has won millions as a professional card counter. The site includes the museum, living quarters for the owner, a vineyard and winery, a brewery, and a restaurant. The owner's parking space is labelled "God" and his girlfriend/wife's spot is labelled "God's Mistress." The museum is housed mostly underground, in a cavernous space that would make a fantastic evil lair. Modern and classical art pieces are scattered throughout in artistic fashion.

Hugh and I failed to grab audio guides before heading down the spiral staircase into the museum, so we didn't really understand much of what was going on. But it was modern art. I doubt the audio guide would have changed much. I always want more explanation for stuff than the audio guide, or even the artists, are willing to supply. It was a cool museum, though, and I enjoyed it, even though I chickened out and didn't have a go on the bell-adorned trampoline.

And that was about it! Back in Hobart, we had fish and chips and caught a plane home!

Elections, blech

Ugh. Australia had a big election today, and the result is not pleasing. I won't begin to try to explain Australian politics, because I don't understand them in the slightest, but the Liberal National Party being in power does not bode well for Australia. Hugh is ready to leave the country!

The Liberal Nationals aren't very liberal. Tony Abbott, the leader of the party, is strongly against gay marriage. He opposes abortion being legal and has made so many negative comments about women that his wife and daughters had to go on TV defending him as "a good father and husband." On the election trail, he told voters they should vote for a certain female member of his party because she had "sex appeal."

The party's campaign has been all about how awful life in Australia currently is, due to the Labor Party of course. Except that life in Australia is pretty damn good. While the rest of the world is still recovering from economic recession that started in 2008, Australia has sailed through relatively unscathed. The economy here has flagged slightly, unemployment has risen slightly, but overall, people are doing fine. In the recent list of most liveable cities, Australia takes four spots in the top ten. And they only have five cities! Okay, like, seven. But Tony's gonna introduce what equate to austerity measures. Cuz those have worked so well in other countries. And also, WE DON'T NEED THEM!!

Ugh, I'm just upset because I haven't been able to get a research job, or even a research INTERVIEW, in six months, and the chances that the Liberals are going to support public health research seem pretty dang slim. So yeah. I might be working in retail for the next few years. Ohhhhh, that is a depressing thought...

I heart Hobart

Hugh and I spent last weekend in Tasmania, and it was so fun! I really enjoyed myself. We went to Hobart, which is the capital city of the State of Tasmania, which is an island off the southeast coast of Australia. Nine of Australia's 21 currently-operating distilleries are located in Tasmania. Hobart is a pretty small town, with just over 200,000 people living there currently. It is located to the southern end of Tasmania, and is really not all that far from Antarctica (relatively speaking). The climate is more similar to the Pacific Northwest or to southern Scotland than it is to the rest of Australia.

The Australians love a bit of what I call "regional racism," and Tasmania is the favorite object of their scorn. Because it's an island, and perhaps owing in part to its history as a penal colony, the rest of Australia likes to claim that Tasmania is rife with incest and two-headed people. They also imply that there is no culture or anything of interest to do in Tasmania, despite the fact that Hobart has loads of great shops and is a thriving bastion of hipster culture in Australia.

Hugh and his coworker were invited to present at a whiskey event on Saturday night, so we decided to make a big trip of it, with Hugh, his coworker, his coworker's girlfriend, and me flying over on Friday night. We stayed at the self-catered "Apartments on Star," in a 2-bedroom apartment. The apartment was gorgeous and had a view of the water. On Friday night, Hugh and I tried to check out the whiskey bar run by Lark Distillery, but they closed at 10pm. On a Friday. Small towns, eh? To be fair, as we wandered back to the apartment on foot, we passed quite a few raucous bars and pubs, so it's not a completely dead town.

Saturday was a big day, starting with tasty breakfast at the Tricycle Cafe off Salamanca Place. Prior to leaving Melbourne, I had made a short list of shops to check out in Hobart, and I set about checking them off my list, starting with The Maker. They had lots of little wooden craft supplies, decorative papers, homewares, and clothing designed by the woman who runs the shop. I bought some mermaid washi tape!

The Salamanca Market was in full swing, so we wandered through there a bit, then I headed into town to Liverpool St to find The Stash Cupboard. This was a really great yarn store with quite a selection of luxury wools. I bought last season's Pompom Magazine, which I've been meaning to buy but it isn't available in Victoria. I looked for wool for a sweater for Jody, but all the good ones were from a company in Seattle. It didn't feel right to buy wool in Australia that came from Seattle, for someone in Seattle. Right? Plus it was super expensive (because of the high quality). I wished there was more Australian wool available, but I know there aren't many companies making luxury wool in Oz. I tried to go to another yarn store, called the Craft Hive, but alas, it was closed.

I met back up with Hugh and we ambled back toward Salamanca Place. On the way, we stopped in at Store & Co, which was very Anthropologie-esque with pretty stationery, awesome homewares, and a smattering of clothing. They had a vintage tin dollhouse that made my heart skip a beat.

Back at the market, I pulled Hugh into the Tasmanian Woollen Co., which had a small selection of even more luxurious yarns than the last store! Hugh found two skeins of some really gorgeous dark green and blue hand-dyed merino wool. It was so beautiful...and $25 each. I spent a solid 15 minutes trying to decide whether it was worth the expense, whether I'd be able to make a nice scarf out of it, and whether Hugh would actually wear said scarf (he's never worn the one I made him last year that cost me $80.) In the end, it was too beautiful to pass up! We explored the markets some more and chatted to another whiskey distiller who runs a stall at the market. As we were talking, a long procession of zombies passed through the market. It was a pretty impressive turn-out, but the majority of the zombies totally didn't bother to stay in character. There was some very poor shuffling going on, let me tell you.

And I'm gonna leave this post there cuz this is getting quite long! Part 2 tomorrow! Or in a few days...

Work in progress: frustrating scarf

Why do I continue to knit when I find it eternally frustrating??

I'm trying to knit Hugh a scarf. I love this wool so much, but I'm not loving trying to find an appropriate pattern for it. Hugh and I agreed that a simple (stockinette stitch) pattern would show off the wool best, but even after blocking the scarf on the left, it still curls up horribly (middle of the photo).

Plus, soaking it caused a significant change to the color, which is still pretty but no longer matches skein 2 (not shown). So I decided to try a 1x1rib, which makes it successfully lay flat, and I'm alternating skeins every two rows so there's no obvious color difference, but I just don't think the scarf on the right is as pretty, because the ribbing interrupts the natural flow of the color changes :-(

Am I just being too picky? Probably. But I want my man to love it!

I've just had an apostrophe

I've been saying for years, years, ever since finishing my Masters (and probably before), that I don't know what I want to do with my life. I've been bumbling around from job to job with a general idea that I want to do research, preferably in infectious disease, preferably tuberculosis, and preferably focusing on the social and ethical aspects of the disease and it's control. But that's as specific as I've ever been able to get. I told myself I wasn't trying hard enough to Figure It Out, that I really needed to sit down somewhere for a few hours and Figure It Out. But every time I did that, I came up with a different answer.

"What I really want to do is medical anthropology. I should get a second Masters in that!"

"What I really enjoy is sharing information. I should do a training course in health promotion!"

I never did these things because they cost shitloads of money, and while some career development courses are worth the money to advance one's career, I already have $75,000 student loan debt for a Masters degree that hasn't starting paying off yet. So I waited, and thought some more, but ultimately didn't get anywhere.

And then yesterday, at the ripe old age if 31 and a half years old, I Figured It Out. It's not that I don't know what I want to do; it's that I want to do everything! Tuberculosis, yes, but let's not neglect the neglected tropical diseases! Leishmaniasis, African trypanosomiasis, Dengue, leprosy even! And let's measure rates of notifications, and rates of underestimation, as well as using qualitative methods to understand how the disease affects the quality of life of patients, and why patients delay in going to the doctor, and why they do or don't use condoms! Let's measure health literacy and see if it correlates to outcomes. Let's evaluate interventions that provide added emotional, nutritional, or financial support to patients. I want to do it all!!

When I look at the research areas of established researchers, when I search for articles written by a specific researcher, I see that they're all the same--they want to do everything, too. And they do! Universities don't want one-trick ponies teaching their courses. They want people with a range and breadth of expertise. And I want to be one of those people!

Of course, I have to start somewhere, but this realisation liberates me. I can start virtually anywhere, and I'll still get where I want to go, because I want to go everywhere! And it gives me confidence in the conviction that the industry I want and need to be in is academia. I'd love to contribute to government health agencies, but not as a government office worker, more as a resident consultant who also works elsewhere.

If right now isn't quite the right time for me to do a PhD, then I'll be ready to pounce when the timing (and visa status) are right.

first signs of spring!

It's spring!!! I totally wasn't expecting it. It's been colder in the last week than it has been all winter. Hugh even turned on our heater for the first time ever on Sunday. So I was happy to wait until at least September 1st before demanding that spring arrive. But the cherry trees weren't happy to wait! They have decided it is spring already and I'm inclined to follow their lead! It was also nice and warm this morning, though somehow, at 3pm, it's now freezing again. Oh well, that's spring for you!

mysterious object, made by me!

I made a thing!

(Ignore the dust on the ukelele. We'll get around to dusting soon...) It's supposed to be a pencil case, but is actually rather large and not very strong (see below). The pattern book said I would need interfacing if I was using lightweight fabric, but I thought this twill was pretty substantial. It totally can't stand up on its own, though. Maybe if the whole thing was smaller.

I skipped ahead in my 1-2-3-Sew! book. I made projects one and two, then skipped ahead to seven. Projects three through six wouldn't have helped me make this tube less wonky, though, as none of them have anything to do with cylinders. I found the instructions for this project somewhat on the terse side, but maybe that's just because I'm a bit of moron when it comes to stuff like this.

So yeah, I have no idea what I'll use it for. With the cute vegetable print, I want to use it in the kitchen, but it won't stand up with our wooden spoons in it. I'm almost tempted to fill it with sugar! That would be silly, though, wouldn't it? I'll find something.

melbourne zoo

Our friends Owen and Jen are having a party this weekend. They are going to roast a whole pig! They asked Hugh for a bottle of whiskey to use in roasting the sucker, so I dropped it off at Owen's work yesterday. And guess where he works? The zoo! I got to see the tigers and the seals and the lions and the meercats! But the cutest of all, of course, were the otters. The ones at the zoo are littler than the ones in Seattle, and one of them kept making this adorable squeaking noise. So cute!

  

TRESemmé, for the well-groomed tiger.

Anglesea

My softball team spent a couple days away in Anglesea this past weekend. Anglesea is a small, coastal town an hour and a bit out of Melbourne. One of the girls on the team has a holiday home there. I got totally trashed on Friday night, lounged around like a slob all day Saturday, got drunk again but not as bad on Saturday night, then we all headed back to Melbourne and played double-headers. Yeesh! By Tuesday, I had a sinus infection. I'm clearly too old for this kind of partying! (Incidentally, it didn't take long to establish that I was the oldest person in attendance. And yet I neither look it nor act it.)

The whole weekend, I only took pictures of the beach. haha! Those are my priorities! There were 16 of us there, and only four of us even bothered to go to the beach. To be fair, Anglesea is set about a mile from the beach, across marshland. And it's winter. Sadly, I think I may have ruined my Minnetonka moccasins traipsing through the mud :-( But look at that sunset!!
 

diy coffee

This morning, I was thinking of buying myself a coffee, but then remembered that we're super poor. (I still have some of my UK tax return, but trying not to use it all up.) Then I remembered that Hugh bought us a caffetiere, and a special plate to hold it on our stove because the gas rings are just ever so slightly too wide for it. The plate just arrived this week, so we haven't tested it out yet.

So I made myself espresso for the first time ever! I don't think I did it right, though. It seems a bit watery. I shall keep experimenting until I get it right!

Complete with one heaping teaspoon of sugar :-)